Scott Fralick WKRN Reporter

Let's teach the Koran

2006-09-29T17:51:00.000-04:00

I'm waiting. For the second day in a row. And no one wants to call me back.

The Wilson County School Board wants to teach "The Bible" in class. The ACLU says uh-uh, that's unconstitutional. I'm all set to talk with a parent, a former gospel singer, who big-B Believes and who believes his children should be taught The Bible in public school. I also am waiting to hear from the dude who started the whole process. We already have the ACLU's perspective.

But no one is calling back. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Here's my question: If it's ok to teach The Bible in class, will these same people be ok when the local Muslim community wants The Koran taught in class? What if the Catholics want their Bible taught (not all Bibles are created equal - the Catholic Bible has some different books)? Who gets to decide which translation is taught? I've seen the bumper stickers - "If it ain't King James, it ain't the Bible."

Enlightened. Of course, these same people think Jesus spoke English, not Aramaic. If anyone ever calls back, I'll have my answer.

UPDATE

I got to talk with the mayor of Mount Juliet. She was kind enough to meet me at the high school homecoming football game. She and each city commissioner are resolutely in support of their schools providing Christian activities. In fact, the sound bite I used to end my story works well here:

"We happen to be Christian and we believe we are entitled
under our constitution to and Supreme Court to have certain activities in our
community."
Linda Elam
Mount Juliet Mayor
.

Getting Perspective

2006-09-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

Anthony Roselli loves football. You can tell because he gives so much of his time for free to coach nine year olds. If you've ever watched nine year olds practice, you'll understand that Roselli has the patience of a saint. It seems like everyone on the field has A.D.D.

Roselli was named youth coach of the year in Middle Tennessee by a local parent magazine. He got balloons and a nice piece of metal with his name on it. You could tell that, while he was honored, he really just wanted to continue with practice.

So why did he get the award? First of all - he's a decent guy. Not the swearing at everyone type. Secondly, he's there for his players. Always there. When he had cancer, Roselli still showed up for practice. When he lost a daughter, he was still there.

That's what he's really teaching his players. It has little to do with plays and everything to do with the rules of leading a successful life.

Reading is Evil

2006-09-27T11:05:00.000-04:00

You know, it only takes one crank to get the media going. This time, the crank was in Lewisburg, TN. Some guy called the local library because he was mad they had Spanish books on the shelves. He was shocked and disgusted to find a bilingual librarian.

So he called the mayor's office claiming there might be an illegal immigrant subversively working behind the counter of the local library, filling the heads of all the sweet Anglo children with Spanish phrases.

The librarian's name is Nely Rivera. Yes, she's Hispanic. Puerto Rican. Which, in case you have geography issues, is an American territory. Its residents are American citizens by birth.

But it gets better.

Nely was born in New Jersey. I know because she showed me her birth certificate. She keeps it handy for guys like the one who called the library to complain.

This does have a happy ending though. Nely's boss supports her. In fact, she hired Nely in part because she was bilingual. And the good mayor of Lewisburg thinks expanding his community's horizons is also a good thing.

So, yes, cranks make a lot of noise. But this time, no one was buying the tune.

While the post lasts, take a look at the story on the WKRN website:
http://www.wkrn.com/node/49546#top

Veteran Tombstones Buried In The Front Yard

2006-09-22T12:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, if you haven't heard this story yet, you just haven't been paying attention.

We got a call into the newsroom - a guy mowing his lawn in East Nashville ran over what the thought was a rock. In a way, it was. Turns out his lawn mower blades were clipping the corner of a 250-pound tombstone buried (barely) under his lawn. And there wasn't just one. Doing a little digging, he found a total of six tombstones. All but one belong to World War 2 veterans. The stones were originally used in a military cemetery up the road. Fortunately for our surprised homeowner, there were no bodies beneath the stones.

The mystery was this: How'd they end up used as landfill to help stabilize a wall along a front lawn in East Nashville. The quick answer: No one has a clue. And those who might, aren't talking.

The homeowner bought the house a couple of years ago. The tombstones were from the 60's. Best bet: The gravemarkers were not disposed of properly (they should have been busted into pieces when they were replaced) and someone, somehow, ended up with almost a ton of slightly used white marble.

The homeowner called the cops, called the operators of the local military cemetery. They came and got the stones and assured him they'd get rid of them the right way this time.

But exactly how they ended up buried...well, someone, somewhere knows. But they aren't telling. Yet.

Go Slow For Old Sparky

2006-09-18T14:48:00.000-04:00

It may not happen. The courts have temporarily stopped the execution of Daryl Holton. He's the father (oh, I mean ex-father) of four children he killed. Holton was scheduled to sit in the electric chair until smoke came out of his ears tonight/Tuesday morning. But attorneys acting on his behalf (but not with his support - Holton has said repeatedly he wants to die - asked and received a Stay of Execution...meaning it's Go Slow time for Old Sparky, aka Tennessee's electric chair.

So, now concerns about Holton's sanity. Well DUH!

No execution means media will now shift into "what's next" mode. Lawyer blah blah blah, anti-execution blah-blah blah and how Holton had his head shaved and was ready for the fryin' chair.

Food For Thought (and other cliche headline titles)

2006-09-17T13:01:00.000-04:00

I shoulda known. The minute I start blogging it becomes impossible to do so because of time. Figures.

Do You Love Spinach?

Who'da thunk Popeye could die of E.coli and that Brutus would be the one getting Olive Oil? Thursday and Friday I covered stories on the Great Spinach Scare of '06. After doing two stories and talking with the experts I can say this:

You have nothing to worry about.

We in the media LV to scare people. It makes you pay more attention to us. But, the chances of you getting E.coli from bagged spinach...and then the chances of you getting deathly sick from E.coli from bagged spinach...well, they're somewhere between slim and almost impossible. But I did my dutiful job of scaring everyone to stay away from bagged spinach.

So don't eat it.

The 17 year old girl from Kentucky who got ill and was brought down to Vanderbilt - she's a vegetarian. There's more ammunition for the the meat-lobby.

Nine Eleven @ News 2

2006-09-11T21:44:00.000-04:00

Every station in America is doing the same story today. The challenge is to find an angle that hasn't been done or isn't being done a thousand times over. My personal favorite is Where the Hell is Osama Bin Laden? America's involvement in WW2 didn't last as long as the search for Osama. Obviously, our president is much too busy trying to finish his daddy's business than find and kill Osama. It was nice to hear, though, Bush finally admit there was no connection between 9-11 and Iraq. It's three years and more than 2-thousand dead soldiers too late, but it's nice to know the prez has decided a little bit of truth might be needed in his war on error...terror.

I talked with the Dean of Nursing today at Vanderbilt U. Her plane landed in DC moments after the Pentagon was hit 9-11. She thinks America is not prepared for another terrorist attack, at least not its hospitals, fire & police departments. She's right.

Berlin is Metaphor

2006-07-26T13:03:00.000-04:00

It is personal triumph and public tragedy. A city divided and reunited. Die Mauer is a wound with scar tissue that runs across the city two brick lengths wide.

Berlin is a metaphor for our lives. Walls and bridges. Self-destruction and resurrection.

This was my second visit to Berlin. Each time, I spent a week discovering, wondering: What is this city? Progress, promise and elusive personality. Each block held another world: This is where a man’s body floated in the barbed wire, shot by East German guards when he tried to scale Die Mauer. This is Templehof, where a miracle of human aid stopped communism’s push from further infecting Europe.

History in Berlin is short but deep. Paris has coffee shops older than the German capitol. London’s past is fabled, even its brutality and burning is the subject of storybooks now. Film and photographs were not there to capture sights and sounds of London’s worst moments so that, to every generation, the wounds would seem fresh and new. In comparison, the noise and fury of Berlin’s past is available to anyone watching the History channel.

Of all the images I found of yesterday in Berlin, the most poignant, oddly, I discovered during a boat ride on the canals of the city. I admired the gargoyles and artwork of a bridge as we floated underneath it. The look was weathered and ancient.

The tour guide informed me the bridge was built in 1997, created to look old before its time, from its 19th century design to faded paint. Berlin, like all of us, reinvents itself as it grows up. A lost past must be recreated.

The metaphor is personal.

As a teenager, I grew up wanting to visit Belfast, Berlin and Beirut. Each city at the time (and time again) was at war, hot or cold. Each battle was block by block, building by building. It was neighbor against neighbor. Images I saw on Canada’s late night news never left my mind. The most cruel wars are civil.

Not so surprisingly, mom and dad wouldn’t let their overly-curious youngest son tour his three favorite “B’s.” It would be years before I got to cross one of the cities off my must-see list.

After Die Mauer fell, I finally got a chance. I was fascinated by how a city and civilization heal its divisions: Will a family of strangers get along after the reunion champagne is emptied and the headache starts?

The answer is time. Not this generation. Maybe not the next; but eventually, unity. Not just of borders and governments. Both are artificial and subject to change. Unity of a people beyond leaders and political systems that rise and fall in fashion.

I glimpsed the start of this new Berlin during the World Cup. National pride without reserve. Flags flown from car windows and hung from balconies on either side of the fallen Mauer.

For God’s sake, I was able to buy t-shirts boldly proclaiming Deutschland! That was something I could not do during a visit to Berlin two years previously. Now when I wear those same shirts in America, it provokes response from strangers. An elderly German shopkeeper was shocked I would wear her old country’s name on my chest: Doesn’t it get you in trouble? Another man simply asked if I knew the score from Germany’s last World Cup game.

In flying the colors, I discovered the patriotism (no longer a dirty world) blossoming in Berlin was being felt beyond that city, beyond Deutschland and into the heart of America where those of German descent had long ago buried their ancestral ties, embarrassed by the bloodline.

Being German was suddenly ok.

Berlin is a metaphor. Is that an eagle soaring over the Bundestag or a Phoenix rising?

In the 21st century Berlin’s scars will heal and it will retake its rightful place as one of Europe’s star cities.

Now all I have to do is figure out a way to live there to watch it fly.

I want to thank RIAS for honoring me with this opportunity to gain insight and personal introductions to those who could help me discover Berlin and Deutschland.

Day 14 in Brugge & goodbye

2006-06-21T11:55:00.000-04:00

Some cities are more beautiful than words.
That’s the story of Brugge, Belgium.
The city dates back to when it was the main city of northern Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. World capitalism got its start here. And the architecture and culture it left behind linger, caught in time and somehow able to escape the ravages of world wars and development.

Let the pictures tell the story.

And the end of the RIAS Berlin/Brussels/Euroepan adventure.

Day 13 at NATO

2006-06-21T11:52:00.000-04:00

Nope, can’t show you that.
Nope, can’t tell you that.

Went to NATO. No pictures.

Off the record conversations with diplomats.
But I can tell you that American-led and financed NATO is the balance to the softies at the EU. We’re the muscle to their flabby underbelly.

I can also tell you about the World Cup. You can’t get away from it in Europe at the moment. Every bar, every square and every TV set everywhere is turned to it. Imagine if the Super Bowl last all month. Oh, wait. It does.
Nevermind.

Day 12 in Brussels

2006-06-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

We’re not in Germany anymore.

You can tell by the messier streets, the smaller cars and probably the most telling of clues: everyone is speaking French.
It’s Brussels. Belgium for those of you without a map or clue.
The central market square of this city is amazingly beautiful with buildings dating from the 1690’s. A real time warp for an American boy. Even compared to Germany, this is ancient.

But this is a work day. All day at the European Union. Depending on your views of bureaucracy, this is either heaven or hell. They take their pseudo-government very seriously here at the EU. But not their security. After lunch we walked into the EU building through a side door. We weren’t checked, we didn’t go through a metal detector. It’s all very strange for someone used to emptying pockets and taking off shoes at security checkpoints in small-town courthouses in the US.

The EU is a babble of voices with a common enemy: America. At least that’s what the lefty intellectuals believe. They don’t necessarily run the EU, but they have always run the political and public discourse in the media.
Ya, it’s just like America that way.
Remember, it was the lefties who wanted to work with the communists. Now they want to negotiate with terrorists while making the world a safer, green place to be.
Educated beyond their intelligence, as grandma used to say.
The EU is more concerned with the alleged greenhouse affect than it is with terrorism. Once I learned that, I understood why their security system was such a joke. As long as I’m driving a hybrid car, I’m obviously not a threat, even if I have an IED attached to my chest.
The European elite see America as the greatest threat to peace in the world today. These are the same class of people who negotiated with Hitler. This generation will have a similar experience of success, I suspect.

Day 11 in Schwerin & Brussels

2006-06-21T11:46:00.000-04:00

I have TV station envy today. First thing I did this morning after admiring the intensely blue sky over Schwerin was visit the local TV station, NDR.
Unbelievable.
I haven’t seen a station that nice since visiting the MSNBC studios in New Jersey. German journalist Andrea Gottke gave us the complete tour, even offering her belt to one of RIAS fellows.
Now that’s above and beyond the call of duty. It’s a chick-thing. An international chick-thing.
Every American TV station I’ve been to is chaotic, cluttered and shows sign of constant use. NDR looked like it had just been unwrapped from the box it came in, but had been a working TV and radio newsroom for ten years. I guess those notes forbidding food and drink are actually followed in Germany, while they are studiously avoided in America.

It’s a travel day after that. Bus ride up to Hamburg’s airport and then a quick flight to Brussels. I wish I could have seen more of Hamburg, but we’re in a rush. It looks more American than any other city I’ve seen in Germany, even more so than Berlin. It reminded me a lot of Chicago. Go figure.

And then there is Brussels. It’s funny how just a couple of hundred miles changes everything in Europe.

Day 10 in Schwerin

2006-06-21T11:40:00.000-04:00

It’s just a little cooler than 168 degrees outside. Celsius. That figures out to about 1002 degrees Fahrenheit. And there’s a seldom told secret about northern Europe they don’t tell you about in the brochures.
They don’t believe in air conditioning.
Not in this hotel. Not in Schwerin. Which means that when I wake up at 4:30 in the morning to a sauna in my rooms, it’s the perfect opportunity to tour this gorgeous town. Picture in your mind the perfect-looking German city, with obligatory castle and lake. This is it.

Of course, not everything is as it seems.

Schwerin was a bustling place when the communists had it. They built a plastics factory and brought in tens of thousands of workers. Those workers really didn’t do much at all since there was no need for a plastics factory in the middle of Schwerin. So when the Wall fell, so did the economy of Schwerin.
Now, the city of 50,000 is like small towns I’ve seen dotted around the American landscape.
Lots of tattoo parlors. Teenage girls pushing baby strollers. Skaters roaming the parks. And a hilarious and somewhat random graffiti artist who paints ‘judy garland’ all over the city.

It all makes more sense when we get a city tour of a communist-built ghetto. I’d like to say it looked awful, rundown and ugly. And it sort of did. The communists weren’t big on style. But Schwerin’s got a long way to go to match the public housing of Nashville. The buildings were well kept, I didn’t see drug dealers and single mothers hanging around in the middle of the day, oblivious to the benefits of work.
In other words, if this is the ghetto, Schwerin ain’t doing too bad.
But the Germans are ashamed of it and tearing it down anyway. Maybe I can get them to come to Nashville and rip out the Section 8 housing that rings this city’s downtown core. They obviously have a better way of dealing with it than we do.

The mayor of Schwerin smokes a pipe. I know this because Lord Mayor Norbert Claussen smoked his way through our meeting with him in the afternoon. He’s a West-German who came in to transform the town from communist to capitalist. He, quite rightly, sees tourism as the answer to its economic woes. But he wasn’t too happy when I said his townsfolk seemed suspicious of westerners and Americans in particular. Understandably so, looking at history. Since the 1930’s Schwerin was under totalitarian control by either the Nazi’s or the Communists until the Wall fell. That’s generations of mistrust. And you can see it in the eyes of almost anyone there over 30.

Day 9 in Rostock & Schwerin

2006-06-21T11:34:00.000-04:00

Discovered something new about Rostock today. The town’s disappearing. Not sinking, like New Orleans, but the people. They’re leaving every day.

The city lost 50,000 people in 15 years since the Wall fell. One out of every five left and probably isn’t coming back anytime soon. Those leaving are young, ambitious and educated. That doesn’t bode well for the future.

Who’s gonna wipe grandma’s nose when she can’t do it anymore?

Met the mayor of Rostock – Roland Methling. Nice guy, but he didn’t seem to understand he‘s sitting on a tourism goldmine. There are millions of people stepping onto his docks every year, but that didn’t appear as important to him as going forward with shipbuilding. I could have seen his point, except even the shipbuilder we talked with earlier in the day wondered whether Germany could be competitive in a global market.
China can build ships cheaper than Europe and they’re building as many as they can as fast as they can.
ManfredMuller-Farenholz is the top dog of the Neptun Shipbuilding company. Before reunification, the communists had 6,500 people ‘working’ there. Now there are 400.
And that’s why the last person leaving Rostock’s shipyards may have to turn the welding torch off.

Going south now to Schwerin. It’s the capitol of the former East German communist state we’re in. I was hoping for a glimpse of 120mph exotic sports cars on the autobahn, but this is the former East Germany so the roads are two-lane, tractor-blocked ribbons of black asphalt.
Beautiful, flat country. It looks a lot like the northern plains with pine trees and dark green grass.

Driving into Schwerin, you get the idea of an idyllic land lost to time. I brought out my ipod, blasted the tunes and walked the city.
I was right, time has forgotten Schwerin. And if it’s not too careful, so will the future.

Day 8 in Rostock

2006-06-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

Sunday in Germany is quiet in the way that America used to be quiet on the Lord ’s Day (back in the day, as they say).

Nothing is open. Nada. No restaurants, no stores. At least not in town.
So it’s off to the beach where the bars are wide open.
Take that, Tennessee.
The beaches are gorgeous. Sand as silk. And bathing suits are minimal when they’re not optional. Which can be a good thing or a scary thing depending on who’s showing what.
While there were plenty of topless women (good), many of them were grandmothers (bad). And many of the men (and very hairy men, mind you) word Speedos, which is very bad, except for the men who wore nothing at all, which is worse.
Oh ya, they were playing in the sand with their kids, who also wore nothing at all.
Good God I hope they believe in sunscreen. That’s going to be a very painful burn if the sun shone where the sun don’t shine.
I touched my toe in the Baltic Sea. I feel healed.

Day 7 in Berlin

2006-06-21T11:26:00.000-04:00

Buy-bye Berlin, home of a trillion tacky, wacky and cool World Cup souvenirs and hello Sachsenhausen.

It was an abrupt transition to say the least.
Sachsenhausen is a small town about 30 miles north of Berlin, home to a concentration camp built first by the Nazis, then taken over by the Communists.
If you’ve read George Orwell’s Animal Farm, you get the irony.
The truth is, there are no words to describe the horrors of a concentration camp. You have to see it to be completely enraged by it. Reading the biographies of just a few of the thousands of victims of the camp puts faces and names on the otherwise anonymous victims. Disgust and anger were my first emotions. The sadness comes as you spend more time walking the same steps as the condemned. There was no way out.
And there is no way out for Germany in coming to terms with a genocidal past. The society confronts it. And this alone may be the reason why Germany is now one of the most pacifist nations in the world. That’s a good thing, for them and for us.

After that, it was another abrupt transition. This time, beach blanket bingo and the coastal city of Rostock. A very beautiful town with an architecture that looks straight of a German travel brochure. But like every city in Germany, it’s all a façade. Rostock was bombed extensively in World War 2 and the town center was rebuilt from the ground up to look old. It’s like Hollywood. Faces are reconstructed to hide an ugly past.
But the weather is beautiful, the townsfolk are friendly and just a little surprised when Americans show up at their doorstep.
This was communist East Germany until 16 years ago. Rostock seems to have recovered. A travel haven for Germans and northern Europeans, it’s used to visitors. Not so other isolated former East German cities.
But more on that later.

Day 6 in Berlin

2006-06-21T11:21:00.000-04:00

Had breakfast with an American journalist in Berlin. All journalists, or at least all good journalists, are thrill-seekers.

Adrenaline junkies. Lou Charbonneau of Reuters is such. He’s an American who flew over to Europe after the Wall fell and decided he needed to stay. He didn’t have a job, but he knew a few words of German and that was enough. Now he has a career and a life that includes skipping across Europe and much of the world for stories.
Yes, I’m envious. Although, let’s be honest, the back hills of Tennessee (can anyone say Trousdale County) are about the same as Europe’s underbelly nations like Albania. Neither speak English; education is an after-thought and the smart ones get out as soon as they can.
After that, it was on to visit Germany’s Minister of the Interior. When Peter Altmaier walked into the room, everyone knew it. Kind of a Clinton-type energy that changes the temperature of a room. Mr. Altmaier was very frank on one thing: If Germany doesn’t change its economic ways and lose the socialist shackles, it’s in for a long slide into poverty and economic oblivion.
And looking a lot like France, God forbid.
And speaking of oblivion, next up was the Trade Union chieftain, Wolfgang Lutterbach.
He’s the head of Germany’s Federation of Trade Unions. In Germany, the trade unions have an enormous amount of political strength. Imagine America during the 1960’s; England before Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. That kind of pull.
And they’re not giving up, despite dragging down the economy and refusing to acknowledge globalization. German Trade Unions refuse to let shop owners open when they want, refuse to let companies fire people during economic downturns.
Basically, they call the shots.
And as we all know, if there’s anyone who knows how to run a successful, profitable business, it’s a union. Well, ok, maybe the Mafia can, but that’s a different kind of union (think longshoreman) and profitable in a way that requires breaking many rules and not a few laws – something Germans are loath to do.

Friday evening, it was World Cup time. Germany versus Costa Rica in the first game. You could have heard a pin drop in Berlin. The streets were that quiet. Only the bars showing the game were boisterous. After the 4-2 victory, the town partied like it was 1989. For the first time, German flags were everywhere. This is not a normally patriotic people - and they were going crazy with flags, banners and impromptu songs.
In the U-bahn (subway) after the game, I was greeted by a couple of young guys who asked if I minded while they snorted cocaine on the train to the city center. Afterward, between cheers and songs, one guy told me about how a hotel in the Netherlands refused to let him stay there because he was German. The guy told me ‘three generations later and still nothing has changed.’
That’s a picture of Germany you don’t get watching the games at home on TV.

Day 5 in Berlin

2006-06-21T11:17:00.000-04:00

Every now and then you meet someone who gives you a new understanding of life. Hubertus Knabe is such a man.

Dr. Knabe was a West German (read free German) abducted into communist custody when he was 25 years old. That was in 1953. He was accused of being a spy for the dreaded Americans.

Dr. Knabe wasn’t.

But the communist East German security police weren’t buying his story of innocence, so the psychologist spent seven years of his life in a dirty hell-hole of a communist prison. Kind of like Guantanamo, called Hohenschonhaus. But America would never do that, right?
After seven years of psychological torture where he wasn’t allowed to contact family or friends, the kind communists set Dr. Knabe free. He was given enough money to buy a meal and a beer and sent home on the subway. The entire time Dr. Knabe had been in prison it was in East Berlin, just a few miles from his home.
Today, Dr. Knabe gave us a tour of the prison where he had been held inside a windowless jail cell with a bed too small to extend his body. Dr. Knabe is now 78 years old and wanted to thank America and Americans for helping him and his country remain free.

Day 4 in Berlin

2006-06-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

You can always tell a journalist. You just can’t tell him much.

We met a couple of German journalists today. Even with a language barrier, you could’ve known they were reporters. Funny, smart and quick. And cynical. I guess that goes with the territory, doesn’t it?
There are competing government-sponsored German TV stations. Can you imagine PBS having to go head to head with PBS? And winning in the ratings? Some things just don’t translate at all. The correspondent we met, Dr Peter Frey (and, ya, he has a PhD) believed government paid reporters could keep their distance and objectivity while covering the German government.

Let your own inner-cynic decide.

Then it was off for a meeting within the German equivalent of the White House. We met the Tony Snow of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Just so you know, spin sounds the same no matter which language it’s in.
Babble, it seems, is an international tongue.

Finally, it was off to Fan-fair. No country music though. This was a concert to kick off the World Cup. The crowd was so thick, at one point there was no way to exit. That’s a whole lot disconcerting. When you realize you’re stuck listening to “Right Said Fred” sing ‘I’m too sexy’ either panic attacks or overwhelming angst are the only reactions possible.

Day 3

2006-06-11T15:39:00.000-04:00

Day 3, 6.6.06

Well, the world didn’t end, did it? Sorry all you apocalypse freaks. Maybe you’ll be right next time. I hear there’s a comet coming your way – so get your sneakers and special kool-aid and get ready.

Speaking of kool-aid, I saw WKRN consultant Michael Rosenblum in Berlin yesterday. But more on that in a moment.
Got to hang with a Berlin city councilman. Fritz Felgentreu walked us through his “ghetto” neighborhood. High crime, low graduation rates and filled with immigrants.

East Nashville should look so good.

Onto the German Bundestag, this is their Congress/Parliament. There’s graffiti on the building…inside. Which isn’t unusual in Berlin. This city has a second coat of paint, courtesy of taggers and graffiti artists. But the graffiti inside the Bundestag is historic, left over by American and Russian soldiers.

Met Germany’s secretary of urban affairs & transportation Wolfgang Tiefensee. Tell me if this sounds familiar: In order to compete globally, business has to shrug off red tape created by a bureaucratic nightmare that is the government. Good luck with that.

Then: Opera. It was a wonderful time to drink, nap and wonder what in God’s name is it about opera that anyone enjoys. Hello, anyone?

And then there’s Michael Rosenblum. I was with my group at high-end restaurant called “Lutter & Wegner.” No one walks out of this place without dropping a couple of hundred dollars. Anyway, so I’m giving my order to the waiter and look up to see a tall, blonde woman who looks very, very familiar. But I can’t place her. Then, after I blink, I see the man who changed WKRN and brought about the whole VJ-world single-handedly. After I got over my shock, I got up to say hello, but Mr. Rosenblum was already gone into the cold Berlin night.
Looks like they’ll be vj-ing in Berlin very, very soon.

2nd Day in Germany

2006-06-06T18:38:00.000-04:00

Germany Day 2

Ok, half day report. It’s all about yesterdays. Did a quick tour of Berlin. Answered my question about why this city seems younger than even Nashville. About half of it was destroyed during World War 2. Much of which survived was destroyed or abused by the communists. Now, the city’s rebuilding, but it’s trying to preserve the look and feel of history. So it’s constructing all these buildings to look old. Truly, it’s hard to figure out what’s real and what’s not.

Call Berlin a pseudo-city.

And then there’s the wall. Or, more correctly The Wall. Or what’s left of it. Our tour took us on the same winding path that The Wall once occupied in Berlin. Past the monuments to those who died trying to escape communism. Beside the still empty fields that were the 150 yards of no-man’s land where few escaped the Soviet bu

First Day in Germany

2006-06-06T18:19:00.000-04:00

Germany, Day One

After 12 hours, three airports and a serious lack of legroom on Continental Airlines, we’re here.
Berlin’s airport looks a whole lot like Nashville’s, except tidier. Not the kind of huge international extravaganza you’d get in Paris or London. But then, Berlin is still trying to figure out if it wants tourists.
It’s a little too late for that this month. The city is one several in Germany hosting games as the country is the site for the 2006 World Cup of Soccer. The city is in fever pitch for an event that most Americans don’t know even happens. Or care, for that matter. And I sympathize. Soccer has all the excitement of baseball, but without the benefit of steroids for record breaking performance.

Berlin will party through the World Cup.

The Brandenburg Gate, which is of huge national historical significance, will be part of a stage for bands and DJ’s to play and get the rhythmically challenged Germans to dance. The stage game me inspiration: We need to have an all-night, police excluded rave at Nashville’s Parthenon. That might help the city’s hip factor.

To end our first day, we went to a multi-cultural parade in one of Berlin’s less prosperous neighborhoods. When I’ve had the misfortunate of going to these things in America or Canada, they are always ominously dull. But I went anyway.
In Germany, multiculturalism is a different world.
No worthless political speeches, no do-gooderism. Just one float after another of DJ’s blasting their dance music at supersonic levels. And many, many, many drunken Germans dancing as they walked/stumbled behind the floats. I did what anyone caught in that situation should do: I bought a beer (oh, and they do drink on the street here…all day long, all night – even on Sundays) and joined the parade. Finally, a parade that adults could enjoy; although I noticed a lot of children with their parents as well. And a lot of drinking teens. Drinking age here (at least for beer) is 16.

new test

2006-05-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

yet another test

Really, this is the new test video

2006-05-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCLSVpDEYc

Getting Ready for Berlin

2006-05-22T16:22:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. I promised myself I'd blog every day. It's a lot like dieting, that. Without discipline, failure is inevitable.
So, I'm back here again. This time, a greater sense of purpose. I'm heading to Berlin and Brussels in a couple of weeks and figure this is the best way to share my stories while I'm abroad. That's what journalists do.
I'm heading to Berlin; invited by the RIAS Berlin Commission. RIAS started post World War 2 as "Radio in the American Sector." With the cold war over and the wall torn down, RIAS now invites select American journalists to spend two weeks in Europe to learn about developments in Germany and in Europe.
Basically, a bridge of cultures.
I'll be leaving in June. If technology works as planned, I'll blog what I've seen & heard and have Ms. Brittany push it out on Nashville is Talking.

Iraqi Election in Nashville

2005-01-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

A much much quieter night. I'm doing a story on the Iraqi election as far as it's being held in Nashville. Lots of worry about security. Mostly by police and media - almost none of it by the neighborhood.

NASHVILLE IS PREPARING FOR YET ANOTHER ELECTION.
THIS TIME, IT'S WITH AN INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR.
IRAQIS IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE ARE VOTING IN THEIR FORMER HOMELAND'S FIRST DEMOCRATIC ELECTION.
THERE ARE CONCERNS ABOUT SECURITY.
TONIGHT, NEWS 2'S SCOTT FRALICK FINDS OUT WHAT THOSE LIVING NEAR THE IRAQI PLACES THINK.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Vo - police care
SECURITY IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE FOR THIS ELECTION.
11;13;22 - william whitfield park
SO MUCH SO THAT IRAQI'S WILL HAVE TO GATHER AT WILLIAM WHITFIELD PARK. THERE THEY'LL GO THROUGH SECURITY CLEARANCE BEFORE THEY'RE BUSED TO THE POLLS TO VOTE. THAT HAPPENS JANUARY 30TH.
Vo - MAP
ONE OF TWO VOTING SITES IS AT 440 WELSHWOOD DRIVE.
Vo
THE VOTING SITE IS A FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE LODGE. LEADERS HERE VOLUNTEERED THEIR SITE.
11;06;22 - flag in window for those serving overseas
THIS FLAG IN THE FRONT WINDOW HANGS IN HONOR OF THOSE ON DUTY IN IRAQ. IT SEEMED ONLY NATURAL HOSTING THE VOTE HERE WOULD BE A WAY TO HONOR THOSE SERVING OVERSEAS.
Vo = the warren house
RESIDENTS WHO LIVE AT THE APARTMENTS ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE POLICE LODGE WERE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT THEY WHAT WAS GOING ON.
11;10;19 treshena poullard
'it's pretty cool, but I didn't know that kind of stuff goes on over there.'
map - 348 thompson lane coleman center
THE SECOND VOTING SITE IS ON THOMPSON LANE.
Vo coleman comm ctr
THE COLEMAN COMMUNITY CENTER IS LOCATED AT THE INTERSECTION OF TWO BUSY ROADS, BUT IS TUCKED AWAY FROM THEIR TRAFFIC.
standup - 10;58;51
'if you want to know why this site was chosen, all you have to do is take a look - it's a barrier to between the polling site here and the traffic and the public.'
vo
PARENTS PICKING UP THEIR CHILDREN FROM A SCHOOL OUTING SAY THEY DON'T STRESS ABOUT AN ATTACK.
11;03;34 Butler, Connie
'are you worried about security at all? no. Why not? Because I just don't worry about it. I'm the type of person that, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen.'
vo - sites
ORGANIZERS SAY THEY WILL HAVE A NUMBER OF ARMED OFF-DUTY POLICE OFFICERS AND SECURITY GUARDS PATROLING ALL THREE SITES. FEDERAL AGENTS WILL ALSO BE KEEPING AN EYE ON SECURITY TO MAKE SURE THE NASHVILLE NEIGHBORHOODS ARE SAFE.
IN NASHVILLE, SCOTT FRALICK, NEWS 2

Shootings, shootings everywhere!

2005-01-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

Started off talking about Shigella - which is a stomach bug that pre-school and elementary school kids spread when they don't wash up after using the bathroom (just like our good friend, E Coli - famous for its appearance in Spokane restaurants - but that's another story). That quickly changed when a 15 year old girl was shot in the hip while hanging with her friends. And that was just the beginning. I chased three different shootings, including a home invasion robbery where the robbers got shot! Police say, shock!, it was drug related.

[TAKE PKG]{***PKG***}
[Duration:1:32]
[Notes:OUTCUE: THAT'S ALL]
Vo - 12TH AND CLAY
A TEENAGER, HANGING WITH HER FRIENDS ON THE STREET CORNER DIDN'T SEE IT COMING.
nats of 22;33...don't show face
'all I heard is a ratatattat.'
SUDDENLY, A SERIES OF SHOTS FIRED RANDOMLY INTO A GROUP OF FRIENDS. ONLY THE VICTIM WAS HIT. WITNESSES IN THE AREA SAW IT AND HEARD IT - BUT STILL COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.
28;43
[CG at 0:18:DEVELOPING STORY 2 line-314\WITNESSED SHOOTING\Amanda Capps]
[CG :DEVELOPING STORY BUG-319]
'we was just driving, coming from down here and we got halfway down here, some little boy was busting as some boy down here and and a little girl got caught in the middle. So she wasn't arguing. She wasn't doing anything, she just got caught? She was just with the boys she was with.'
standup - 32;03
[CG at 0:30:DEVELOPING STORY 2 line-314\REPORTING\Scott Fralick]
[CG :DEVELOPING STORY BUG-319]

'here's how one witness told us it all went down. The shooter was behind me at that open lot where you can see some police officers right now. His victim was across the street at the corner right beside this building with a group of friends. She was hit in the lower back. She was able to walk, but she didn't get far away. if you take a look down the street, take a look at where that police car is, that's how far she was able to make it. Then she fell to the ground. The police came and took her to vanderbilt medical center where she is now receiving medical care.'
24;11- pix of tire hit
ONE CHILD SHOWED US HIS BIKE - SAYING A TIRE WAS HIT BY A STRAY BULLET. POLICE DON'T KNOW WHAT STARTED THE GUNFIRE IN WHAT IS OTHERWISE A QUIET STREET.
paul trickey captain 25;36
[CG in 1:04 to 1:08:DEVELOPING STORY 2 line-314\METRO POLICE\Capt. Paul Trickey]
[CG :DEVELOPING STORY BUG-319]
'i don't characterize this area as being any more particularly dangerous than any other area.'
THE SHOOTER RAN AWAY FROM THE SCENE. POLICE SAY WINDS WERE TOO STRONG TO USE THE HELICOPTER FOR SEARCHING - AND THAT POLICE DOGS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN EFFECTIVE TO FIND THE TRIGGERMAN. WHILE POLICE WENT ON THE HUNT FOR THE SHOOTER, NEIGHBORS TOLD US THEY WERE SCARED TO SEE SUCH A RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE NEARLY TAKE A GIRL'S LIFE.
30;13
'these little kids holding pistols like they're grown, you know what i'm saying. What can we do for them except pray for them, that's all.'

TDOT Shooting in Jackson

2005-01-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

It's my Monday morning. I drove west to Jackson after a man opened fire at a TDOT facility. First he killed his wife, then walked out of her office and shot two other people. Both of those victims were just visiting the facility and had nothing to do with his domestic dispute or TDOT for that matter.

DCS Husband

2005-01-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Sad, sad story today. Talked with the husband of a DCS worker who took her own life on Christmas Day. We did the interview in the house. He sat in the chair next to where she sat before pulling the trigger. She said she was despressed about possibly losing her job. My photographer started to cry. Brutal, hard and honest.

Canadian Prescription Drugs

2005-01-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

Talked with a gentleman who uses an array of medication to keep his health intact. He has to buy the drugs from Canada because they're much cheaper there. Now the Canadian government wants to stop the exporting of drugs to the U.S. because they worry there won't be enough for Canadians. Like they matter!

Iraqi Elections

2005-01-04T21:00:00.000-05:00

Hung around a Kurdish diner and deli today, talking with possible voters in the upcoming Iraqi election. Also talked with Karen Kirschfeld regarding Nashville's role in the election. Could tell immediately she was a Harvard grad. Amazing how some people wear that on their sleeves.

New Year's Day

2005-01-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting to head out on a story. Going to a local church where a Sri Lankan family is looking for financial help so they can get home and rebuild following the tsunami. Nothing like working on New Year's Day...but it beats Christmas when I had to do the story of a woman who smashed her car into a wall; killing herself and injuring two infants.

Saturday December 11

2004-12-11T13:43:00.000-05:00

Off to the Salvation Army to find out how they feel about Target telling them no kettles at the corporate doorways.